Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything.
Hello all,
Sorry this took so long! But only two reviews? Really? That's not very encouraging…
Oh and, because somebody asked me, I have had the coming events planned since I started writing (I have an outline for the whole story in fact), so they weren't inspired by Deathly Hallows at all. :)
Cat
Big thank you acidxlullaby (I do have a soft spot for Draco, I must say) and Maria (Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Heehee!) for their reviews of chapter thirteen and to Draeconin for keeping me on my toes! This one is written for you!
Harry Potter and the Unholy Grails
The Wizarding Safety Act
The few weeks spent at the Lodge were some of the happiest that Harry had spent in a while. January literally melted into February, the sun blazing so brilliantly each day that the snow that had surrounded the house disappeared in rivers of water that ran down the dirt road with spirited energy. The only thing to cast a shadow over Harry's happiness was the violent dreams he kept having, courtesy of his link to Voldemort. The Dark Lord was exceptionally angry. He had finally learned of the 'explosion' at Dragon Hill, but because of the amount of both Muggle authorities and Magical Law Enforcement swarming all over the hill he was unable to check on his Horcrux. Harry sensed that he did not really think that anyone had discovered his secret because he thought his ruse to well constructed and felt sure that he would have felt it, but he was concerned that the Horcrux's protection might have been compromised. Harry thought it was definitely for the best that Voldemort remained ignorant of his Horcrux's destruction, or Harry's search would certainly get more difficult.
In addition to this, Voldemort seemed to be suffering another secret frustration, for neither of these issues could he share with his Death Eaters. As his annoyance continued to grow he broke into Harry's sleeping mind more and more often. Through his lessons with Remus, Harry was usually able to eject himself easily before he was detected, but he feared one day he would again find himself possessed.
Such a day came at the end of the first week of February. Harry was having a very good dream involving Draco and the motorcycle pants when suddenly pain seared across his scar. He bolted upright, eyes snapping open. The bedroom dissolved before his eyes to be replaced with a room he did not recognize, filled with a voice that he did.
"Kreacher won't, won't," Kreacher the house elf mumbled fiercely. Harry stared down at him, bound by unseen ropes to a little chair, through Voldemort's unblinking eyes. "Kreacher will not disobey his Master."
The little elf struggled more, and Voldemort clapped his hands loudly. A man stepped through a door in the corner and jabbed Kreacher with his wand. The wood seemed to electrically shock the elf into silence, and Harry caught a glimpse of the stranger's pinched face and graying black hair before he slipped back into the shadows.
Harry nearly jumped out of his skin as a high voice rang furiously through the room. Voldemort was screaming at the elf out of Harry's mouth. "Regulus Black is not your master anymore! Tell me where the Horcrux is!"
Kreacher shook his head violently so that his ears flapped and Harry was reminded suddenly of Dobby. Harry felt his face twitch in fury. "Crucio!"
The little elf screamed and twisted in his chair. "No, no, no,' he wept.
Harry lifted his wand and the elf fell still. "No?" he asked, deadly calm. "You will tell me where the Horcrux is hidden then?"
Kreacher looked up and, very slowly, shook his head again. Immediately he began to howl and twitch again, this time so violently that he fell off his chair.
Several things happened very quickly after that. As Kreacher fell forward off the chair he revealed the tapestry behind him. Harry immediately recognized it as the Black Family Tree and, more importantly, his eye was drawn unconsciously along with Voldemort's to the name Regulus Black. In the ornate writing of the tapestry the first letters of each name was decorated and large, and suddenly Harry knew why Voldemort was interrogating Kreacher. A rush of understanding and excitement filled him, and in his elation Harry forgot to repress it.
Voldemort dropped his hand again and Harry's blood ran cold as he felt his face stretch into a smirk. He had only a second to close his mind before he felt Voldemort pushing him out of his mind and back into Harry's. Desperately Harry resisted, thinking of Draco sleeping vulnerably at the Lodge, and to his surprise Voldemort recoiled. Astonished, Harry remembered that Voldemort could not stand when he was thinking about love.
Suddenly an incredible thought hit him. Could he possess Voldemort? Harry quickly focused on the happiest thing he could remember, like he would to conjure a Patronus, and let Draco's face fill their conjoined mind. Immediately he felt Voldemort's mind shrink away, retreating backwards deeper into his brain.
'Potter,' the Dark Lord hissed in pain.
'Let Kreacher free,' Harry thought, forcefully, and to his utter astonishment the invisible ropes around the elf seemed to slacken. He was, somehow, in control.
'You are too weak to control me Potter,' hissed Voldemort.
'Really?' Harry said. "Come Nagini," he hissed though Voldemort's mouth.
'No!' the Dark Lord said, and Harry realized that he was afraid. Why?
Then the answer came to him. Nagini was a Horcrux. Horcruxes could be destroyed by the person who created them. There was a thump in the corner and the great snake fell from the shunned couch in the corner and slinked across the room to Harry's feet. Harry raised his wand and mustered his will to perform the spell.
'How long have you been in love with Draco Malfoy?' Voldemort inquired scathingly.
Harry nearly dropped his wand and he only just barely managed to retain control of his mind. Nagini slithered around his ankles.
'Oh yes, Potter. Didn't you realize I could see those memories you were hurling at me? Very enlightening, they were.'
Harry swallowed. He wand hand trembled. He was losing control.
'You're weak, Potter. Weak like your parents. Weak like your hero the great Albus Dumbledore.'
Fury flared in Harry. He made an instant decision. 'You aren't too strong yourself without your Horcruxes, are you?' he thought viciously.
Harry felt Voldemort's shock radiating through their minds and he raised his wand, pointing it at the snake. "Avada Kedavra!"
The snake slumped to the floor, motionless, Harry heard an ear-splitting 'No!' and a blast of devastating, rage-fueled pain sent him flying back into his own body.
He was on the floor, slumped against his bed. Draco was beside him, calling his name. The door burst open, Tonks and Remus framed in the light from the hall.
"Kreacher, come," Harry panted, and then he fainted.
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There were voices talking around him and the sheets of the bed he was lying in scratched his bare chest. His hands were pinned under the tight covers like a swaddle infant's and he was propped up on hard, thin pillows. Even though his head throbbed horribly he forced himself to open his eyes slightly.
It took him only a moment to realize that he was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. The soft pink light of dawn filtered in through the high clerestory windows, colouring the sterile white linins and warming the dull stone walls. There were voices around him; several people were clustered around his bed and conversing in lone tones.
"..woke up, and he was writhing on the floor," a voice murmured, and Harry realized that Draco was sitting by his side, holding his hand.
"Did he say anything?" Ron's voice asked from Harry's other side. If his friend thought there was anything odd in Draco and Harry holding hands then he did not show it.
"He was mumbling, but I couldn't tell what he was saying," Draco continued, hushed. "Then he kind of came to for a second and called Kreacher. Then he passed out and left me to deal with the crazy elf-"
There was a gasp in Ron's direction and Hermione's voice joined the conversation. "He actually came this time when Harry called him?" she said, shocked. "That must mean…"
"The enchantment holding him was broken?" Remus Lupin offered from the foot of Harry's bed. "I believe so Hermione. Though it hardly seems that it will matter; the elf is quite insane. Whatever they did to him did nothing to improve his already fragile mind; that is certain."
"Surely there is something we can do, though? Send him to St. Mungos?" Hermione's distress was apparent, and Harry felt a SPEW campaign coming.
"They will not admit house elves, Hermione," Remus said regretfully.
Suddenly there was a long BANG as the doors to the Hospital Wing were flung open. Harry could no longer pretend to be asleep, and so he rubbed his eyes reluctantly and sat up. Tonks was striding up the ward, her eyes wild.
"Remus! Remus, kids, you have to read this!" She was clutching a copy of the Daily Prophet in her fist. As she drew level with the bed, Harry saw that that her hands were shaking. She cleared her throat and began to read the front headline:
CONTROVERSIAL CHANGES IN DETAINMENT LAW GO INTO EFFECT
In a highly unpopular move very uncharacteristic of his past actions in office, Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour has shocked the Wizarding community of Britain by introducing a new set of laws, called the Wizarding Safety Act, that give his office supreme power to question, detain and even arrest persons of suspicion without giving reason or providing any proof.
Outraged citizens rallied against the decision of yesterday morning, which some are going so far as to calling unlawful and even evil.
"As if we didn't have enough to worry about with You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters up and down the country, now we have to fear undeserved persecution from our own government! The Ministry should be trying to make us feel safe, not becoming another terror," a distraught Peter Davis, father of two, told The Daily Prophet yesterday afternoon.
Other voices of dissent included Fred Weasley, co-owner of the popular joke shop Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. "The Ministry shouldn't be wasting its time detaining everyone who looks at them funny, they should be hunting Voldemort!" the unusually serious Mr. Weasley vented yesterday evening. When contacted for follow-up comments, however, both men were conspicuously unavailable.
The regulations passed were of particular controversy because of one particular clause, which states that, 'any Death Eater, dangerous magical creature or Ministry dissenter or any person found to be aiding, harbouring or closely related to such a person can be detained at the Ministry's sole discretion for an unlimited amount of time.'
Several critics have furiously pointed out that this would include any family or friends of vampires, Veela, giants, werewolves and many other part-humans as well as the people themselves under the 'dangerous magical creature' clause alone. Several prominent families and figures in the community have already been detained.
In addition, the broad term 'Ministry dissenter' could be applied to nearly anyone who criticises the Ministry's (obviously justified and fabulous) policies. People are afraid to speak their minds for fear that they will be considered a radical and get their family thrown in jail.
Most controversially of all, however, is the fact that the ruling calls for the immediate arrest of Harry Potter. Mr. Potter, who many are calling the Chosen One for the belief that only he can defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, is rumoured to have aided fugitive and suspected Death Eater Draco Malfoy in escape from the Knight Bus this past summer. Several witnesses report that Potter fought off wizards and witches attempting to detain Mr. Malfoy.
The Ministry is appealing to families and friends of these so called 'dangerous individuals' to turn them in, saying that such an act would result in immunity from Ministry suspicion and punishment.
Tonks' knuckles were white as she finished reading. She crumpled the paper violently and, with a force Harry had never seen her express, threw it against the wall above Harry's head. Six pairs of eyes watched it smash against the wall and fell into Harry's lap.
"You're awake," Draco said, staring at Harry without really seeing him.
There was a dreadful silence for a few more seconds before Remus murmured, "Dangerous magical creatures…"
Tonks gave the paper that Harry was unfolding again a last furious glare and then went to hug her boyfriend.
Hermione's voice shook as she spoke next, "But, this means that Remus…and Tonks…"
Ron joined in, sounding as shell-shocked as Draco, "And Harry…and Draco, obviously…"
Remus looked up and gave them a tired look. "I don't think you appreciate the scope of this law Ron. Of course Draco is in trouble as he was before and Harry is now in trouble for associating with him, but now in addition to that you are guilty for associating with Harry."
He let these words sink in for a moment before continuing, "Everyone here can be arrested. Ron, your whole family is in danger for their closeness to Harry, you brothers' open contempt for the Ministry and because of Fleur. Hagrid is half-giant, so he and anybody known to support him can be detained without question."
"If I didn't know better, it would sound like this whole law is set up to arrest people who are close to Harry and the Order. Harry alone could be arrested for knowing Draco, Hagrid, Fleur, any of the Weasleys or Remus," Hermione said, and even as she said it Harry felt of swoop of dread in his stomach.
He was staring down at the picture that headed the article Tonks had just read. The caption under it read "Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour and the Head of the Department of Law Enforcement, Pius Thicknesse, sign new law yesterday" and the picture showed two men shaking hands. Scrimgeor smiled his lion-like smile, as if imagining all the prey waiting for him out in the world, and holding his hand was a short wizard with graying black hair and a pinched face.
"He's a Death Eater," Harry said slowly.
The others turned to him. "Who?" Remus asked.
"Pius Thicknesse," Harry said.
"The Head of the Department of Law Enforcement!?" Tonks said incredulously.
"Harry," Draco asked, "How could you know that? He wasn't with Voldemort when I was still a Death Eater."
Harry glanced meaningfully at Draco, Ron and Hermione. With his usual perceptiveness, Remus cleared his throat, placed his hand on Tonks' back, and steered her from the room. The four of them were left alone, and Harry recounted to them what had happened the night before.
Hermione was aghast, "He possessed you again? You possessed him?"
Ron was more jubilant. "Alright Harry! Now all we have to do is destroy the locket!"
Draco spoke then, "No, Weasley, first we have to find the locket, and then we can destroy it."
Ron waved an airy hand, but Harry was not so optimistic. "He knows I know about the Horcruxes now, so it won't be long before he discovers that we have destroyed them all. We have to find the locket quickly and then I…I have to…"
"But how do we find the locket?" Hermione said, sounding slightly panicked.
"Kreacher?" Ron suggested.
"I thought he was crazy?" Harry said.
"He is, apparently, completely barking," Ron said.
Draco could not keep the scorn out of his voice as he retorted, "So Weasley, how do you plan on getting the location out of him then?"
The optimistic tone was gone when Ron rounded on Draco, "Well, have you got any brilliant ideas Malfoy?"
"Enough!" Harry said loudly, and his friend and boyfriend both fell silent. "Ron has a point. Now that Kreacher is free, we might as well talk to him."
When nobody objected to this, Harry cleared his throat slightly and commanded, "Kreacher, come here."
Instantly there was a loud CRACK and a filthy and disheveled house elf appeared beside the chair that Draco was sitting in.
"Master Regulus," Kreacher bowed deeply. "How can Kreacher serve you today, Master?"
Taken aback, it took Harry a few moments to reply. "I'm not Regulus, Kreacher. I am your new Master, Harry. Do you remember me?"
Kreacher's bowed head snapped up, and his demeanor changed rapidly. "Filth," he growled, "Unworthy filth, you are not my Master."
A house elf that Harry had not noticed before gasped at Kreacher's words. When Harry turned to look at her, however, she went pink up to the top of her ears and hurried away into a concealed door.
"Uh, yes," Harry said uncertainly. "Be that as it may Kreacher, I need to know where Slytherin's locket is."
He was unprepared for the fury that this unleashed in Kreacher. He started to screamed, kick and fail at them all. Screeching, he bellowed, "Master Regulus is telling me to keep it hidden and I will not betray him for filth!" He ran up to a pile of bedpans nearby and started to throw them at the four of them. All three of his companions leapt to their feet.
"KREACHER!" Harry bellowed back, ducking to avoid a bedpan that Hermione blasted away with a Reductor curse and jumping out of bed. "TELL ME WHERE THE LOCKET IS, NOW!"
There was a howl of rage and anguish, and the bedpans stopped flying. Kreacher was banging his face hard into a bedpan that he clutched in both hands, howling, "No! No! No!"
"Harry, let him stop!" Hermione pleaded, and when Harry did nothing she erupted in fury. "You're just as bad as He is, torturing him for your own good!"
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Harry rounded on her. "What the hell else can I do Hermione, huh?" His wand was pointed less than a foot from her face.
"Oi!" Ron shouted, joining the fray, "Back off mate!"
Hermione glanced again at the still-howling Kreacher, shot Harry a look of disbelieving disgust and turned on her heel, stalking from the room. After one more second, Ron followed.
"No! No! No!"
"Kreacher, SHUT UP!" Harry cried, and the elf fell silent. Harry took several deep breaths before he was calm enough to say, "You don't have to tell me Kreacher, but I want you to go to the Headmistresses office and sit there without communicating to anyone in anyway. Do you understand?"
Immediately the elf stopped punishing himself and stopped yelling. He fixed Harry with a triumphant and lunatic stare and then there was another crack and he was gone.
Harry sunk back onto the bed, suddenly exhausted. Draco had resumed his seat, and now the two of them stared at each other silently. It occurred to Harry that it was unusual that the matron had not intervened yet, and he looked about for Mme. Pomfrey. Unable to see her, he turned back to Draco.
"He knows," he said heavily.
"Who?"
"Voldemort. He knows about us," Harry said, letting his head fall back onto the pillow. Disconnectedly he explained exactly how he had repelled Voldemort, a detail he had omitted in his rendition to Ron and Hermione.
"I see," Draco said slowly.
"Yeah," Harry said, unable to think of anything else to say. They sat in silence for what was probably a few seconds but felt like hours. Harry was sure that Draco would get angry, would reprimand him for being so careless, but he did not.
"I'm glad you are ok," was all the Slytherin had to say. He got up from his chair and lay down in the bed beside Harry, head on his chest. Harry pressed a kiss into his soft hair and inhaled the scent of his boyfriend deeply. He felt his nerves relax just a bit, and he closed his eyes again.
Harry might have drifted off to sleep and he was unsure of how long they lay there, but suddenly, and for the second time that day, there was a loud BANG and the doors flew open. Ron and Hermione stood framed in the doorway.
Harry watched in frozen horror as his friends took in his and Draco's current position, but after a few moments of surprised staring both of them seemed to collect themselves. There was urgency in Ron's voice as he said, "Harry, you've got co-"
But he never finished the sentence, because he voice was drowned out by a noise so loud that Harry winced. Somebody was speaking and their voice echoed over the grounds into the castle. It was a high, feathery, girly voice, and hearing it here again made Harry's stomach lurch.
"Hem, hem. Minerva McGonagall, we members of the Ministry are here to arrest you for being a Ministry dissenter and for harbouring fugitives. Kindly surrender yourself and these fugitives or we will, regrettably, be forced to take you by force."
Harry dashed to the window. Staring out over the grounds he could just make out a group of people standing at the gate to Hogwarts. The Ministry had come for them.